Chapter 1

Riley couldn't move. He was strapped down to a table, pinning his arms and legs, and he was naked. It was too dark in the room to see anything, until a bright light shone down into his eyes. Once his eyes adjusted, he could see that he was in the lab where Adam was created.

"Welcome brother." Came a voice to his right. He recognized the voice, and swallowed hard.

"Adam," he murmured, looking to his right. It was Adam. But it wasn't. There was something different about the figure looking down at him. Then he realized what it was. It wasn't Adam's face that was combined with the Demon parts. It was his own.

"No," he murmured, "No!" he shouted this time, struggling to rise, despite the restraints. As he did so, Adam grinned, and Riley saw that for some reason, he was wearing a red and green striped sweater.

He jerked up in bed, gasping. Beside him, Buffy muttered.

"Demon fighty?" she asked, not quite awake yet.

"No," he said, running a hand through his hair, "Just a nightmare."

"Poor baby." Buffy giggled sleepily. "You want some warm milk? Not dirty."

Riley laughed. "No, but thanks."

He got up and went into the bath room to splash some cold water on his face. The nightmare had been like nothing he'd ever experienced. "Could it be a side effect of..."

Buffy appeared in the doorway, sleepy, but concerned. "Hey, are you sure you're alright?" The battle against Adam had been hardest on Riley. All the rest of them had had to do was get over a few issues with each other and unite all Captain Planety. But Riley, he had given up everything he'd had. Had everything he thought he believed in ripped away from him.

"Buffy," he smiled, tearing his mind away from the vision of those claws. "It was just a nightmare."

"There wasn't a guy with cheese in it was there?"

One nice thing about being a librarian, it provided plenty of time to study, and easy access to study materials. Though there was actual work to be done from time to time.

"The Steampunk Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse?" Alice mused aloud, looking at the new book to be added to the shelves. "Is this for real?" Flipping through the tome, she saw step by step instructions for constructing practical devices for living off the land, whichever land that wound up being. "Huh, seems to be."

When all that was done, she went back to her textbook. Being a book pusher was nice, but it was just to help pay her way to a therapist job. And the classes were really interesting. If complicated. Which only made sense, the mind was a complicated thing.

Even the mind of a child, which some people might not realize. She wondered how many of those people actually had children. Hell, she had one, and could even share his dreams, and even she didn't fathom him sometimes. She hoped this class on child psychology would help.

Though she had to ponder if the guy who wrote this book had any kids of his own.

Speaking of which...

"Mary? Hey is Jacob home from school yet? No, I just wanted to make sure. Yes I'm aware I'm probably being overprotective. I'll be home at the usual time. Thanks." She hung up the cell phone and got back to it.

Xander's eye cracked open. Strange, his alarm hadn't gone off. Fortunately his internal clock had woken him up before he had to freak out and flail while he tried to get ready for work.

He started to sit up, but an arm snaked around his chest and pulled him back down.

"Anya, I have to go to work."

"Call in sick."

He looked at her in surprise. "Seriously?" Could he do that? His bout with syphilis hadn't counted against his sick days had they? Workman's comp had covered that actually. For that matter, did he get sick days? He didn't remember. "What about that whole, making money so we can get ahead in life thing?"

"Making money is very important." she agreed. "But I want you to spend today with me."

Giles supposed it might be time to think about getting a new car.

He thought this as he studied the route maps for the Sunnydale bus system. He was unsurprised to see that the routes formed a demonic sigil. It was generally harmless, but it did not engender confidence.

"Knock knock, hello? Mr. Giles?"

He looked up from the map. "Ah, Tara, come in."

"What's that you're working on?"

"Another reason to get a new car."

"What?"

"Never mind. Did you bring everything I asked you for?"

"Yeah I stopped by the magic store and picked up some supplies."

"Excellent. Then as soon as Willow arrives we can begin. I was teaching you about the Great Council of Covens yes?"

"The one where they made the oath against meddling with the natural order?"

"The very one."

As much as Sunnydale had...grown on him, Spike needed to get out. For one thing, he couldn't be sure the Slayer wouldn't change her mind and decide to kill him for helping Adam. And, well for trying to kill her a few times, killing a lot of other people, and just generally being a Vampire.

So it was that he packed up some liquor, some blood, some snack food, and Pride and Prejudice on cassette (don't judge him), and headed out to unwind. Maybe see if anyone could get this damn chip out of his head while he was at it.

To Be Continued...